San Elizario and Socorro clash over annexation

Rene Rodriguez, who owns Tommy's Body Shop at 11876 Socorro Road is unhappy about plans by the town of Socorro to annex the area, now in San Elizario. Rodriguez believes they will get nothing in return.

SAN ELIZARIO -- The battle for San Elizario, a small community that started during the time of the Spanish conquistadors, is beginning to take shape.

Socorro wants to annex a part of it to be able to complete a loop around the city, but San Elizario residents would rather fight than be swallowed up by their bigger neighbor.

They say they would rather incorporate than assimilate.

"It's pretty unanimous. I haven't met one person in San Eli or in Socorro that wants this annexation to happen," said Maya Sanchez, a resident of San Elizario.

The proposed annexation would add seven parcels of mostly desert land to Socorro, but the heart of the controversy is a piece of land in San Elizario along the Rio Grande bordering Socorro.

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Aileen B. Flores

For now San Elizarians are exploring options to stop the annexation completely or at least postpone it, Sanchez said.

"Then we need to figure out a way to never let this happen again," she said.

Residents in San Elizario are considering incorporating their own city to protect themselves from Socorro taking over the rest of their town.

But their bigger challenge would be to get Socorro's approval for incorporation. Because San Elizario is in Socorro's extraterritorial jurisdiction, San Elizarians would have to have the written agreement of Socorro in order to incorporate.

That's a decision council would have to make, said Socorro City Attorney Jerry Wallace.

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"Generally, the city needs to look carefully before it permits itself to forever be barred from expanding its boundaries into its extraterritorial jurisdiction," he said.

There are no plans to annex further into San Elizario, Wallace said.

"There is not economic development potential for those communities because they are already established," he said. "There is not a lot of motivation to annex those communities unless they come up and want it."

Wallace said that one of the reasons for the proposed annexation is the possible construction of a transportation corridor around the city and a warehouse district near the Greater El Paso Landfill, also known as the Clint Landfill, north of Interstate 10.

The plan is to connect Old Hueco Tanks Road from Interstate 10 to Socorro Road, then back to Interstate 10.

Socorro is currently in the process of acquiring the right-of-way for the extension of Old Hueco Tanks from I-10 to North Loop Drive.

Wallace said the city wants to have jurisdiction over the proposed areas to apply for state funds and to implement a tax increment reinvestment zone.

Wallace did not rule out a future plan to build an international port of entry between Socorro and Mexico.

A Socorro city marker along Socorro Road at Dindinger Street near San Elizario.

Another reason for the proposed annexation is to prevent incidents like the legal dispute Socorro had with Horizon City two years ago in which Horizon attempted to dump treated wastewater into a Socorro canal without asking the city's permission.

In addition, the proposed annexation of the parcels adjacent to I-10 will help to address illegal dumping in that area, he said.

"If it's not under our jurisdiction, the city can't do anything," Wallace said.

About 20 affected business owners in San Elizario do not trust Socorro and have hired an attorney to stop the annexation.

They would rather work with residents of San Elizario to incorporate and keep taxes within the town than to be part of a corrupt city, said Rene Rodriguez, owner of Tommy's Auto Sale and Body Shop.

A lot of these businesses, which include transportation services, bakeries, body shops, tire shops and mechanics, are in San Elizario because they don't want to deal with the government of Socorro.

If the annexation is approved by Socorro, business owners are afraid they are going to be harassed by city inspectors, they said.

Socorro officials said businesses in the affected area are going to be grandfathered, unless they represent a nuisance or threat to their neighbors.

The efforts to annex part of San Elizario began on Dec. 6 when Socorro City Council adopted a services plan defining the proposed areas for annexation under a 100-dwelling-units-exempt process.

Manuel Vega of Manny's Upholstery at 11876 Socorro Road does not want the city of Socorro to annex the area where his business is located. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times)

The process allows Socorro to add up to 10 percent of its land area per year and accumulate up to 30 percent if the city doesn't annex for three years.

There is no limit to the number of tracts that the city can add, but the proposed annex area may not contain more than 100 parcels with homes.

Wallace said this process is far less expensive than the annexation plan method, which requires a three- or four-year annex plan with studies and reports, and it's commonly used for larger annexations.

"The city can accomplish its objectives using this method for economic development," Wallace said.

On Dec. 13, written notices were sent to affected landowners to their address listed on the El Paso Central Appraisal District. The two required hearings on the proposed annexation took place on Jan. 15 and 17 in Socorro. Now the Socorro council must wait until Feb. 6 before taking any action.

Meanwhile, the County Commissioners Court will try to negotiate with Socorro over the proposed annexation.

County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal said that in addition to the residents' fears, there are questions about how the proposed annexation is going to affect the historic Mission Trail and if Socorro Council has the authority to approve the proposed annexation.

Bernal mentioned the controversy over whether or not the terms of office of Socorro council members have been extended beyond what the law allows under Texas Senate Bill 100.

In December 2011, Socorro approved an ordinance moving the uniform election date to November 2013, giving the mayor and council 18 more months in office.

Socorro officials have said the city has not violated any laws, but both the offices of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State have indicated that Socorro may have violated the state constitution. An opinion from the Attorney General is currently pending.

"If in fact their terms have been extended beyond the law, then they don't have authority to act (with) regards to this annexation," Bernal said.

Commissioner Vince Perez, who represents the county's Lower Valley, supports the idea to incorporate San Elizario.

"There are a lot of talks right now about incorporation and I think with this annexation, I think the people of San Eli recognize the importance of that," Perez said. "Without incorporation and without people of San Eli becoming their own city, this is going to be a threat in the future."

Aileen B. Flores may be reached at aflores@elpasotimes.com; 546-5352.

Closer lookSan Elizario efforts to incorporate:

Residents incorporated the town six times between 1871 and 1911.

In 1979, the town renewed the incorporation battles of the late 19th century.

In 1986, Ann Enriquez headed the San Elizario Incorporation Committee. The opposition feared a tax increase and dominated the polls by 56 percent.